


Fight for your Right

by Kestrealbird



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: BAMF Prompto, Betting on your Boyfriend, Dorks in Love, Gen, Ignis the Savage™, Lizzie is adorable, M/M, OT4, Prompto is a sweetheart, Soft Boys, The Coliseum fic that no-one asked for, Vague AU, supportive boyfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-08 22:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11090892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kestrealbird/pseuds/Kestrealbird
Summary: Sunshine -because he really did look and sound as such in Courteney’s professional opinion- turned to them. “Gladio,” the big man -Gladio- stiffened, “you’re not very good at holding back in a fight.” His voice was blunt and Courteney was amused to see Gladio deflate and sulk like a child. “And Iggy, no offense, but you’d probably drive them mad. There’s no way you’d take them seriously.” Ignis opened his mouth to argue, but slowly shut it and gave a sort of shrug.“So that just leaves Noct and me!” Sunshine finished with a smile.Noct gave such a sigh that Courteney wondered if he’d ever taken theatre classes. Either that or he was royalty. Unlikely. “But I don’t wanna.” He whined and Sunshine shrugged.





	Fight for your Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LuciValk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciValk/gifts), [latias_likes_pizza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/latias_likes_pizza/gifts), [Red_Cheshire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Cheshire/gifts).



> OK wow this was a lot longer than I was anticipating so it went from a one-shot into a multi-chap and I'm not sorry. Listen we need more BAMF Prompto in this fandom so I'm trying to deliver. Shout out to my friends, Ardent, Luci and Kia for helping me come up with some of the scenes and lines in this fic~~~

The fight with Leviathan had taken a lot out of them, and after the initial terror of Noctis and Lunafreya nearly dying, and Ignis almost losing his sight if not for Lunafreya using her healing to restore his eyes, they were all more than happy to simply rest up and let everything sink in. Lunafreya was helping to rebuild Altissia, Noctis was still sleeping and no-one had the heart to wake him up just yet. Gladio was sitting by the window, quietly reading, and Prompto had left early that morning for one reason or another.

Ignis leant back in his chair with a sigh. Lunafreya had saved his eyesight, but the scars were still there, and it was taking him time to get used to seeing them in the mirror. In a way, Prompto had saved him too, by ramming that Niff Machine into Ardyn and saving Lunafreya's life. He closed his eyes and frowned as he remembered the conversation they’d had with Prompto a couple of nights ago.

Prompto had admitted to being a Niff, had told them he was supposed to have been an MT. He’d looked so small, as if afraid that they’d treat him any differently for it. Ignis remembered how his heart had broken at the sight of Prompto freezing when Noctis had hugged him tightly; he remembered the way his soul ached in pain when Prompto’s eyes had widened and started shedding tears. He couldn’t imagine what that must have been like -having to live with such secrets because you were afraid of being rejected or hurt by the ones you loved.

He could understand why Prompto had left that morning. He needed to gather his own thoughts and let everything sink in. Clearly, he hadn't expected such acceptance, let alone how angry they were that he’d suffered like that.

The marriage between Noctis and Lunafreya had been cancelled, since they had no real reason to follow through with it anymore. It had been a breath of fresh air for them all, and Lunafreya had been nothing short of overjoyed at their relationship. His lips pulled into a smile. Who knew that the Oracle herself was just as gay as Noctis?

They were all looking forward to a week or so of rest and relaxation. Dressed down in casual clothes, Ignis found himself slipping down his chair, no longer needing to keep up a refined appearance. Gladio snorted at him, and if he were a lesser more petty man, Ignis might have flipped him off. Instead he simply rolled his head to give Gladio a bland look.

There was a groan from the Burrito Prince on the bed, and they both turned to watch Noct gracelessly tumble onto the floor. He looked up at them with bleary eyes, half covered in an eye mask with ‘Fuck Off’ eloquently written across it. He stretched and yawned, taking five minutes just to stand up, and another ten to shuffle into the bathroom, a quilt wrapped around his shoulders.

“Try not to fall asleep in the bath this time,” Gladio called after him. A muffled noise was his only answer and Gladio shook his head. “You’ll be waking him up this time.” Ignis glared at him and easily conveyed the message ‘ _I did it last time and don’t you dare try to get out of your turn_ ’. Gladio huffed and went back to his book.

Thankfully today was looking to be quiet, peaceful and all around relaxing.

The sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs and a familiar voice excitedly calling out “Iggy!” made his mouth twitch. And there went all hopes of a quiet day in. As if on cue, Prompto burst through the door and Ignis just had time to brace himself before he had a lapful of a smiling and breathless Prompto.

He wrapped his arms loosely around Prompto’s waist with a chuckle.

“We need to go down to Arena Galviano -you know the big colosseum?- like, right now! There’s limited edition phone charms and we _need_ to get them! Usually they’d be harder to get but as long as you have enough points -including the ones from the Carnival- you can get them so we need to hurry before they all go!” He said it all in a single breath, and somehow his smile had only widened.

Thankfully the three of them were used to these excited bouts of speech, and found no problem in understanding what he said.

There was a long and drawn out “Noooooooo” from the bathroom, and Prompto bent backwards to stare at the door. Ignis appreciated the view while he could and saw Gladio swallow from the corner of his eye. Sometimes they forgot just how bendy Prompto was.

“If you want to stay behind then you can, but I need Iggy there at least!”

Ignis raised a brow. “And why, pray tell, do you need me specifically?”

Prompto righted himself and frowned. “Because of the crowds,” he replied in a voice which said this was _obvious_.

“Ah,” Ignis said. Prompto didn’t deal well with crowded places, and he’d accurately surmised that Ignis was the best one to take along. Gladio would get distracted by the fights on TV and Noct wanted to rest up as much as possible.

Ignis was still nervous about his scars, but Noct had gotten him some special glasses that he could use to hide them behind. He tilted his head in thought.

“Alright-” he motioned for Prompto to stand up and was helped to his feet- “we’ll go to the Colosseum and see if we can get them for you.”

“Us.” Ignis blinked at the blunt reply. “There’s 5 charms, so we can have one each and give the fifth to someone else,” Prompto explained patiently. Ignis’ face changed into a very soft expression and Gladio marked his page before setting down his book, and standing up with a groan.

Noct emerged from the bathroom and glared at them. “I refuse to be left behind,” he muttered, and grabbed the clothes he’d gotten from the Carnival.

Gladio scrunched up his nose in distaste.

“Before you ask, yes I am going to wear this and I’m going to stand next to you the _whole time_.” Noct grinned and Gladio scowled.

Prompto clasped his wrist behind his back, rocking on his heels. Ignis straightened his clothes and put on the glasses Noct had brought for him. Arena Galviano it was then.

* * *

 

“Gladio I love you, but if you don’t stop _checking out every store we pass I’m going to shove you off this bridge_ .” Noct’s teeth were gritted as he said this and Gladio had half a mind to continues browsing every store they passed just to see if Noct actually _would_ shove him off the bridge.

Ignis scoffed. “Please don’t give him any more reasons to run around shirtless. He’s being eaten alive by the gazes following him as it is.” There was the sound of a camera behind them and Prompto’s snicker followed straight after.

“Ya weren’t complainin’ ‘bout my shirtlessness a few weeks ago,” Gladio muttered.

“Okay Big Guy, normally I would agree with you, but to be fair-” Prompto pocketed his camera and jogged up to walk next to Noct- “a few weeks ago we were out in the hot ass desert of Duscae being fried by Ifrit’s back, so I think he has the right to complain this time.”

Noct huffed a laugh and Ignis clicked his tongue in disapproval when he saw the way Gladio was slouching. Prompto hovered his finger over a basket of apples, before picking one up and showing it to Ignis. At Ignis’ nod of approval, he picked up a few more and paid the girl selling the 7 gil for the lot. Gladio rolled his eyes and Noct muttered something about shopping being tedious.

“Would you prefer we starve?” Ignis dryly asked him.

Gladio slung an arm around Prompto’s shoulders and said something that made him giggle.

“We could always just _buy_ ourselves a meal.” Noct’s voice was, perhaps, entirely too hopeful given who he was talking too. It was almost like he was just asking to be disappointed. Ignis leveled with a look that clearly translated to ‘if you think we’re going to keep living on take-out and snacks then you have better chance of turning yourself mildly straight. I will feed you apples if I have to shove them down your throat.’ Noct sighed and deflated. “Worth a try,” he said.

Prompto passed Gladio his basket of apples, and then jumped onto his back and effortlessly climbed on his shoulders, arms resting on Gladio’s head. A woman looked over at them and wondered if the big man could even feel the weight on him, or if he was just very good at hiding the effort. She settled on the former.

“Personally,” Gladio piped up, “I wouldn’t mind some Apple Strudel tonight.”

“What makes you think I’ll be making a Strudel?” Ignis reached out to grab Noct’s shirt and keep him from running off to the fishing lures.

Gladio opened his mouth to reply, and was cut off by Prompto. “For all we know, you could just be serving us up raw apples that are sliced really thin and put on a plate in some weird kind of decoration and hope it fills us up.”

“So restaurant food?” Noct grimaced at the thought and Prompto nodded.

“Exactly,” he said.

“I assure you I’m not quite that cruel.”

“I beg ta differ,” Gladio grumbled.

“Gladio that was. One. Time.” Ignis took a deep and patient breath, as if hoping that his lapse in judgment back then could be magically erased.

“You can’t really blame him though,” Prompto adjusted himself on Gladio’s broad shoulders and Noctis made sure to keep an eye on him in case he fell, “tabloids can be pretty convincing sometimes.”

“I’ll never forget the feel of my stomach slowly dying from hunger; the way it cried out in betrayal and the sound of my own chapped lips whispering ‘why?’” Gladio snorted and Prompto wheezed. Ignis stopped walking.

“Then you can cook for yourselves tonight.” He turned around to walk back over the bridge, but Noctis quickly dived down to cling to his leg.

“Iggy please I’m sorry, don’t make me eat Gladio’s cooking!” He wailed.

“I can cook!” Gladio protested.

“Not very well. Your cooking skills consist of Cup Noodle and 5 minute microwave dinners.” Prompto quickly slid off Gladio’s back to avoid being flipped over and into a headlock. Noct caught him on the way down and they bounded off together, holding hands.

Gladio raised an eyebrow at Ignis who merely shrugged in response.

“Arena Galviano’s Gondola is just up ahead.” Gladio raised his arm to wave back at Prompto, who was leaping up and down in front of the gondola. Noct was stretched out on a bench, bathing in the sun like a very colourful cat.

“So it would seem,” Ignis said.

The gondola ride was as peaceful as it always was, and Noct ended up stretched out on the floor, hands behind his head as he soaked up the relaxing atmosphere. Ignis was left trying to stop Prompto from accidentally falling into the water while he took pictures, and Gladio gazed out at the ruined buildings, impressed when he saw just how many people were helping to rebuild.

Ignis pulled Prompto back from the edge of the Gondola by his belt, and Gladio leaned back with laughter as the blonde went sprawling over Noct, who threw an icy glare at Ignis.

Prompto twisted his body so he could look at the Colosseum; once grand in appearance, it now stood with great chunks missing from its walls, and massive grooves where Leviathan’s tail fin or a Niff ship had scraped or banged into it.

“Hey, Noct,” Prompto tapped Noct with his boot and pointed to Arena Galviano, “how long were you fighting monsters in there last time we were here again?”

Noct genuinely looked like he couldn’t remember and it took him a few minutes to reply. “Almost a whole day…...I think,” he said slowly.

“You were with him Gladio,” Ignis inclined his head at the Shield, “How long was Noct there for?”

Gladio hummed and scratched his beard in thought. “Mmmm, about 12 hours, tops.” He turned a lazy grin at Noct, “so not quite a whole day. Not even close.” Noct flipped him the finger, Ignis rolled his eyes and the Gondolier maneuvering the gondola shook his head at their antics.

When the gondola arrived in the colosseum, Prompto had lost his black jacket, Gladio’s hair was tangled and his beard had 5 ribbons in it, Noct was soaking wet and had to be bodily dragged out of the gondola, and Ignis, with his glasses askew, and hair fighting to stay in an orderly fashion, handed the Gondolier an extra 20 gil for the trouble. The Gondolier took the money with shaking hands, and wondered how these four had survived so long.

“Where did you even get those ribbons, Iggy?” Prompto clasped his hands behind his back, walking backwards so he could look at Ignis as he spoke.

“I don't remember,” he replied. He reached up to fix his glasses, before gently moving Prompto to the side so he didn’t trip over someone’s cart.

Noct looked at Gladio’s beard, with the five brightly coloured and glittering ribbons in it, huffing in response to them. “Are you going to take them off?”

“Nope.” Gladio made sure to pop the ‘p’ as he said it. Ignis’ accompanying sigh could best be described as the sigh belonging to a man who had long since come to terms with such events, and yet still held out some form of mild hope that they might be avoided.

Ignis turned away from them, not at all surprised to realize that Prompto had disappeared. “Aaaaaand he’s gone. Again.” Ignis gave Noct a scowl. “‘S not like you were gonna say it,” he stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking anywhere that wasn’t near Ignis.

“Let’s just look for Prompto,” Ignis sighed. Gladio shrugged, and walked on ahead, ignoring the awed looks -and drooling admiration- that followed him. Noctis made sure to let everyone know Gladio was taken, by jogging up to him and sticking his hand into Gladio’s back pocket. Ignis followed them at a much more dignified pace.

 

Prompto found himself standing in front of the reward’s booth, arms crossed over his chest and frowning. He tapped his foot, and tried to think of the best way to apologize to the guys for dragging them out here. They didn’t have enough points to get the phone charms.They were short so many points…..

He sighed, dejected, and decided to just say sorry out right and be done with it.

A tap on his shoulder made him jump and he whipped around to see Gladio. He pouted at Gladio, who quietly laughed in response.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

Prompto looked away with a sigh. “It’s fine.” It really wasn’t. He’d dragged them out here and they couldn’t even get what they came for. How stupid.

Arms encircled his waist and he felt Gladio rest his chin on top of his head. “Gladio…?”

“Hmm. You know we could always just enter the Arena and earn points that way,” he said. Prompto’s eyes widened, but then he frowned, his natural anxiety poking its way into his business without permission as always.

“But….wouldn’t that be an inconvenience?” His voice was quiet and he couldn’t bring himself to look at Gladio.

Gladio huffed. “Listen, if I can drag all of you half way across Eos just to get some Cup Noodle Ingredients and Noct can make us wait for hours while he fishes, then you’re allowed to indulge yourself. Besides,” he grinned, “we could always just steal them if-”

“We will do no such thing.” A calm and cool voice interrupted. They both turned to see Ignis standing with a hand on his hip, and Noct snickering behind him. Gladio had the decency to look sheepish and Prompto was held in front of him like a shield, as if he could protect Gladio from Ignis’ ire. Prompto wriggled out of Gladio’s grip and moved to stand near Noct. Gladio looked betrayed.

Prompto was only half-listening as Iggy and Gladio debated over whether or not stealing the charms would be worth the risk of arrest, and he found himself looking at the various stands and people.

He looked over at one of the stands filled with teddy bears, and saw a short woman with wavy pastel green hair and violet eyes. She was wearing a pair of big, round glasses and a lab coat over her clothes. Next to her was a woman almost as tall as Gladio, with short blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, defined muscle, piercings in her ears, right brow and nose and skin covered in freckles. He’d recognize these two anywhere.

A huge grin took over his face, and before either of his boyrfriend’s could grab him, Prompo had bolted off with a yell of “Mom!” The taller woman turned to grab him, hoisting him into the air with a laugh. The shorter one clapped her hands in delight.

“Pom-Pom!” They both cheered. He was set down and fussed over before he regained his bearings and waved the other three over.

He hadn’t seen his Mothers since he’d found them in Lestallum, relieved that they had survived the fall of Insomnia, and spent the rest of the week catching up with them and assuring them that he was fine.

“Miss Felicia, Miss Dionara,” Ignis nodded politely to them both and Prompto stifled his giggle. His boyfriend’s had always been respectful and polite to his mom’s, but he supposed most of that was because Felicia and Dionara had kicked all their asses in 1V1 combat before.

“What are you doing here?” Noct asked and Gladio elbowed him in the ribs.

“We’re here for our anniversary!” Felicia chirped, adjusting her glasses so they didn’t fall off her nose.

Dionara jerked her thumb towards the main Arena with a grin. “I was fighting in there to rack up enough points to buy Feli a huge Coeurl Teddy.” Felicia squealed in delight and produced said teddy from her bag. How it fit in there was anyone’s guess, really.

“Mother,” Prompto said, slowly. Dionara turned to him with a confused frown. “What happened...to your hair?” Though one side was still shaved, the rest of her hair wasn’t long enough to flip over her shoulder anymore.

“Hm? Oh!” She rubbed her neck, a flush appearing on her cheeks. “I, um, got it caught in some brambles and Feli had to cut it off.”

Felicia hugged her teddy with a pout. “My hair’s longer than yours so how you managed it I have no idea,” she grumbled.

Dionara whined.

“We’re going to enter the Totomostro sport, too.” Noct shrugged and Prompto stuttered.

“W-what….?”

Ignis pointed to the charms and Dionara and Felicia leaned over to stare at them. Felicia smiled, and her eyes crinkled at the corners. “If you want to get points for those I’d suggest doing the 1V1 matches! You get more points in less time!”

There was a long ‘oooo’ sound from the four of them and Prompto’s Mothers laughed.

“Well, it was great to see you again Pom-Pom, but we promised to meet up with an old friend in a pub around here….” Dionara trailed off, and it was obvious she didn’t want to leave her son. Prompto spent the next few minutes shuffling them off and waving off their concerns about his health. Gladio didn’t relax until the were out of sight, and Ignis leant against the wall for support.

“They’re not that bad you know?” There was laughter in Prompto’s voice and Noct glared at him.

“Their version of a shovel talk should be _illegal_ ,” he hissed.

Prompto opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by Gladio.

“Um, do any of you know the rules of 1V1?”

Silence.

“...wouldn’t it be similar to the 1V1 rules in the Guard?” Prompto asked.

“Well….there weren’t rules until the match became _official_ …” Ignis trailed off and Prompto stared at him in horror.

“Most of ‘em were improvised,” Gladio shrugged.

“Then what rules did you use in unofficial matches!?” Prompto screeched.

“Knock them on their ass.” Noct’s voice was oddly hollow and more silence followed his statement. “Why didn’t we h a v e official ru les!?” Noct was distressed enough that his voice cracked when he spoke.

“Perhaps we should change that when you become King.” Ignis carefully avoided looking at Prompto’s unimpressed look.

Prompto tapped his foot and enjoyed the way they all flinched. “Well since I’m an ordinary plebeian citizen, I can say that this is all. On. You.” He turned on his heel and crossed his arms in an effort to fully show his displeasure.

“This is nice ‘n’ all but...there’s a receptionist right over there.” Gladio pointed out the desk. No-one moved. “Is...anyone going to ask them for help?” Noct shook his head rapidly, Ignis’ cheeks flushed as he adjusted his glasses and Gladio shuffled awkwardly.

“God’s what is it with you people and not using the manual?” Prompto threw his hands in the air, walking off to speak to the receptionist.

“You are my manuals,” he heard Noct grumble behind him. He ignored Gladio’s comment that they were ‘a rather shitty manual’.

The receptionist had skin that was neither light nor dark, and when they looked up Prompto’s fingers twitched with the urge to snap a photo of their beautiful green and blue eyes. Their hair was a light brown and cut into a pixie. Their name tag spelled out ‘Courteney’.

“May I help you?” They politely asked. He pretended not to notice that they’d been falling asleep just before he walked over.

“Yeah, um, we were wondering what the rules for 1V1 were?” He shrugged helplessly, and Courteney tried not to snort, but their lips spread into an amused smile regardless.

“The rules are fairly simple. All weapons are allowed, and although injuries are to be expected, aiming for vital areas is prohibited,” their eyes narrowed at the biggest man’s grumble, “and their are a few ways you can win. 1. Your opponent falls out of bounds. This can be either in the water or over the white line on the ground. 2. Your opponent gives up. And 3. Your knockout your opponent.” They waited before the blonde sunshine nodded. Courteney produced a slip of paper and handed it to them.

“A contract?” The spectacled one asked.

Courteney nodded. “Simply put your name -or names- in this box-” they tapped where to sign with their finger- “and the contract is complete. Nothing else required. The contract simply states that you are prepared to suffer injury, and won’t hold us accountable for any unfortunate accidents.”

The emo in the Carnival clothes hummed. “So the same contract for the monster fights then? That’s fair.” He shrugged, and turned to the other three. “So who should sign up?”

“It can’t be Gladio or Ignis,” the blonde one said.

The aforementioned two looked offended. “Why not?” They demanded.

Sunshine -because he really did look and sound as such in Courteney’s professional opinion- turned to them. “Gladio,” the big man -Gladio- stiffened, “you’re not very good at holding back in a fight.” His voice was blunt and Courteney was amused to see Gladio deflate and sulk like a child. “And Iggy, no offense, but you’d probably drive them mad. There’s no way you’d take them seriously.” Ignis opened his mouth to argue, but slowly shut it and gave a sort of shrug.

“So that just leaves Noct and me!” Sunshine finished with a smile.

Noct gave such a sigh that Courteney wondered if he’d ever taken theatre classes. Either that or he was royalty. Unlikely. “But I don’t wanna.” He whined and Sunshine shrugged.

“Suit yourself.” He turned and jotted his name -Prompto- down on the paper. Ignis exchanged a concerned look with Gladio. Noct shoved his hands into his pockets and looked rather bored. Courteney took the paper from Prompto and before they could utter another word, Prompto bounded off towards an elderly woman holding some kittens with a squeal of delight.

“Are you worried about him?” They asked. It wouldn’t surprise them. He didn’t seem the type to fight other people.

“What? Worried about him?” Gladio jerked his thumb towards Prompto. Courteney nodded. Gladio grinned. “We’re worried about the poor bastards he’s fighting. Prom ain’t an easy guy to beat you know?”

They looked at Ignis. His smile was thin and there was an amused glint in his eye. Well. If what they said was true, then it would explain why Noct had looked so bored. The three men left with a wave and Courteney watched as they bodily dragged Prompto away from the kittens and towards the Arena. _What wonderful friends,_ they thought.

* * *

 

Saprus Fuligo was a cocky man, with green eyes and red hair in a long braid down his back. His skin was tanned, and he had tattoos trailing down his arms and across his stomach. His fans were many and they swooned whenever he passed them. He always got what he wanted, including the heart of any maiden. In his mind, all women were on the market until they had joined his side.

As far as Saprus was concerned, this whole Arena was just a way to pass the time, get money and show off how superior he was to compared to all the other -what was the word? Ah yes. _Subpar_ fighters here. He scoffed when a man (“Um, I’m Non-binary so,” “Nonsense. Only male and female exist in the gender binary. Stop trying to be special.”) tried to shake his hand. A young girl, who had been winning rather well so far, had walked by him and he’d sneered out a simple “they’re only letting you win because you’re a cute girl.” She’d flushed and hurried on her way.

Weaklings. All of them. This whole thing was going to be too easy.

A young man with blonde hair -styled horrendously might he add- with eyes a curious mix of blue and violet skipped in, and he quickly fell into conversation with the young girl Saprus had sneered at earlier. He crinkled his nose in disgust when he saw the man cheering the girl up. No doubt praising her needlessly. How disgusting. He turned away with a sniff of disdain when he saw the girl laugh and the man sit down beside her, offering her some brownies.

His number appeared on the screen in the waiting area, and Saprus stretched his muscles, grabbing his broadsword and making a show of swinging it onto his back. Had he been looking, he would have seen the blonde male roll his eyes, and the young girl giggling behind her hand.

* * *

 

It hadn’t taken them long to find seats to watch the fights from. Gladio’s massive height giving them an easy view of where free seats were. Noct sat between Gladio and Ignis, stretching his legs and lowering his hat with a simple “Wake me up when Prom shows up.” Ignis cracked his knuckles and spent the first few matches filing his nails, and checking the news.

A woman with muscled arms, scars down her chest, and two swords strapped to her back went to sit next to Gladio, but when she saw his massive build, and the bright glittery ribbons in his beard, she quickly went to look for another seat. As far from this terrifying man as possible. On the other side of the arena. He was a man without fear.

Gladio nudged Noct awake and pointed down at the Arena. “Prom’s up,” he said. It was the quickest Noct had ever woken up, and still took him 3 minutes to remember why.

Ignis glanced up to see who Prompto’s opponent was and raised an eyebrow. “The way he’s swinging that sword around, I doubt this fight will last very long.”

Gladio snorted. “Not unless Prom decides to drag it out for whatever reason.”

“Urgh. Please don’t jinx us.” Noct slid down his seat with a moan. He frowned when he heard a bunch of noise from one side of the Arena and sat up to stare at obvious fans, holding up signs with ‘We Love Saprus Fuligo!!’ printed across them in glitter pens. His name was surrounded in love hearts, and Noct swore he saw one of the women lose her goddamn mind and start to strip down. “Oh god he’s one of _those_.” Noct wrinkled his nose in obvious disgust and said a few curses under his breath.

“Don’t waste your breath on him, Noct. You’ll suffocate before long, if you do.” Ignis spread his fingers out, trying to see if they were all clean and the immaculately filed. Satisfied, he put his gloves back on and patted Gladio’s arm. “Do try not to get personally offended with this man’s poor display.”

Gladio crossed his arms. “If I was that easily offended I wouldn’t have survived on this trip so long.”

Noct nodded. “He’s right.”

“Indeed,” Ignis replied, dryly.

* * *

 

Saprus strolled into the Arena like a Rooster in a pen full of hens. Or a delusional Flamingo. But Noct knew Prompto would soon have him be an Ostrich with his head in the ground.

It was a shame that Saprus didn’t keep his mouth shut. His defeat would’ve been quick and simple if he had. But alas, he was a cocky moron, and opened his mouth before any shred of his ‘Give up now’ instincts could crawl on their hands and knees into his mind.

“You know,” his smile and stance was arrogant and Prompto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “If you give up now it’ll save us all some time. It’s obvious I’m going to win,” his voice held laughter. Prompto cracked his knuckles. “I mean, what’s a blondie,” Prompto’s eye twitched, “like you really going to do against someone like me? Have you seen this sword?” Saprus was clearly gloating. If he thought that was intimidating than Prompto almost felt like pitying him.

This must’ve been the guy who made that young girl, Lizzie, cry earlier. “Oh I’m going to enjoy kicking your ass.” Saprus frowned, clearly annoyed and Prompto grinned. _Got him_. “Come on, pretty boy, you gonna stand around waving that thing around all day or can you actually use it?”

“You insolent brat!” Saprus shouted and charged at him. Prompto stepped to the side and skipped out of his way. He turned to see Prompto offering a mocking bow, and he gritted his teeth, breathing heavily.

“You look like an Anak during rut,” Prompto teased. Saprus roared and swung his broadsword in a wide arc towards him. Prompto jumped out of the way, spinning so he could kick Saprus in the back, sending him sprawling across the ground. One part of the crowd was booing -his fans, probably- but the rest cheered.

Prompto had to give him some credit at least; he got up quick enough. And look at that, he wasn’t crying over his ruined foundation. He did quickly check his hair though. Well, Prompto was just going to have to mess it up a little, then. It was about time someone dragged him off of his High Catoblepas.

Saprus growled, a truly unattractive look on him, and rushed Prompto with all his speed. What he didn’t account for was the fact that Prompto was basically the living embodiment of an energy drink, and the next thing Saprus knew, he’d been grabbed by his hair and thrown on the ground. Prompto shook his hand, wincing. He’d thrown Saprus with his hand at an awkward angle and his wrist _hurt_. He could already hear Iggy clicking his tongue.

* * *

 

Ignis clicked his tongue. Noct rolled his eyes. “He’ll be fine. It doesn’t look like he broke it or anything.”

A young man behind them leaned over with smirk on his lips. “Your friends doing pretty well so far. But it’s only because he’s gotten lucky. Saprus’ll still win in the end.”

Noct raised an eyebrow. “I bet 200 gil that our friend wins.” Ignis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gladio grinned.

The man shrugged, leaning back with a smug look. “Hey, if it means free Gil then I’ll take that bet.”

“Don't be mean, Noct,” Ignis chided. They watched as Saprus hoisted his broadsword into the air, bringing it down to the ground in an effort to use the shock waves to upset Prompto’s balance. Instead, Prompto hopped onto his blade. A loud slap echoed in the Arena. Saprus’ cheek had been bitch slapped so hard, his head whipped to the side. He tried to punch Prompto in retaliation, but Prompto merely hopped off his blade and skidded around him.

Saprus let out a small ‘tch’, swinging his blade low towards Prompto’s feet. Prompto cocked his gun, rolled to the side, and fired. The bullet whizzed past Saprus and caught his hair band, effectively shooting it apart, taking strands of Saprus’ hair with it. Saprus froze, his braid carefully undoing itself. Prompto blew the smoke off his gun and holstered it back onto his leg.

The young man laughed. “See!? He missed completely!!”

Before either of them could reply, another voice spoke up. “You’re an idiot if you think he missed.”

“Huh!?”

A man catching on in years, with silver hair and a beard and moustache sat with a grin on his lips and his arms crossed. He gestured to Prompto with his chin. “That young man has been playing Saprus this whole match. He’s making him lose his composure. He aimed for that small hair band, cuz he knows that Saprus is gonna get pissed and make more mistakes.”

“What? But Sparus was still moving, which means his hair was moving too! That shot was nigh impossible!” The young man crowed in shock and outrage.

The elderly man looked at the three boys, his grin widening. “Your boyfriend’s got quite the aim. I’d hate to fight him myself. Too irritating to deal with.”

Gladio choked. “You know he’s our-”

“How the hell did you-!?”

The man laughed boisterously. “I saw you four at the Carnival. You weren’t being subtle with the kisses, lads.” Ignis flushed scarlet, Noct shifted in his seat and Gladio groaned. “I’m not judging,” he shrugged, “my daughter’s got two wives. A mechanic, Cindy I believe, and a girl called Luna.”

Ignis eyes widened. “Aranea is your…?”

The man’s eyes sparkled. “Oh? You know my daughter?”

“Fought her a few times,” Gladio muttered.

The man laughed and slapped his knee. “That’s my girl!”

* * *

 

Prompto watched as Saprus shook with rage, wondering if he’d just fucked up his chance at winning. But then Saprus made the mistake of simply running towards him without rhyme or reason. Prompto sighed, slightly disappointed, and side-stepped him. He stuck his foot out, tripping Saprus up, and watched with amusement as he scrambled to gain his balance, forgetting that he could simply stab his sword into the ground and use it as a clutch.

Saprus held his sword in both hands, swinging it in a large arc, trying to knock Prompto back with the force of the wind it created. Compared to Gladio’s unholy strength, this wind was nothing more than an inconvenient breeze, and Prompto planted his weight just right, effectively stopping himself from being blown away (heh!).

Tilting his head, Prompto regarded Saprus in silence, taking in his heavy breathing and messed up hair. His eyes flickered to the water and with a grin, Prompto ran towards it, stopping just a few feet away. Saprus either didn’t realize he was being baited, or he didn’t care. Either way, it proved that he was a cocky, arrogant moron.

Saprus was beyond pissed; how dare this mere commoner mock him like this!? With a snarl on his lips, Saprus _sprinted_ over to Prompto. Prompto suddenly wasn't there, and Saprus face morphed into dawning shock and realization, his eyes widening, and he stopped just on the edge of the platform, teetering above the water. Prompto walked up behind him, and with a light shove, sent Saprus into the water, and out of bounds.

He merged from the water, spluttering. He looked up to see Prompto giving a small wave and a smile, before he skipped out of the arena to collect his points, humming a pointless tune.

His eyes clouded over and Saprus….suddenly didn’t feel so cocky anymore. He’d been played with; humiliated almost. And all because he’d underestimated his opponent. How idiotic. He left the Coliseum with his head hung low, hair a mess of tangles and his make-up ruined. His fans, at least, were still supportive of him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Saprus Fuligo loosely translates to 'Rotten Soot' and he was named by my friend Ardent~~~


End file.
